Method of manufacturing spoons or the like



Dec. 26, 1950 J. N. GEHRED 2,535,405

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SPOONS OR THE LIKE Filed April '10. 1948 IN V ENTOR.

fimmeZYGehred, Q 2 BY \LK/ M Mr W Patented Dec. 26, 1950 METHOD OFMANUFACTURING SPOONS OR THE LIKE Jerome N. Gehred, Park Ridge, 111.,assignor to Ekco Products Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation ofIllinois Application April 10, 1948, Serial No. 20,332

1 Claim. 1

The invention relates generally to the manu facture of spoons forkitchen use and more particularly to spoons made of stainless steel.

The general object of the invention is to pro-- vide a novel method ofmanufacturing spoons of the foregoing character, in which the waste ofmaterial is minimized and which facilitates the handling of the materialthroughout the various steps in the manufacture.

More specifically, it is an object to provide a novel method ofmanufacturing spoons of the foregoing character, by which a series ofspoon blanks may remain connected to each other until the final shapingoperation. thus avoiding individual handling of the blanks duringpreceding operations and consequently reducing the cost of manufacture.

Other objects will become apparent from the following description takenin connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a strip of metal having performed thereon aninitial operation involved in a method embodying the features of theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse se tional view of the strip taken on the line 22of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the strip after another operation is performedthereon.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of the strip taken on the line l lof Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a blank punched from the strip as shown in 3.

In making spoons, the handle portion thereof is usually substantiallynarrower than the bowl portion. Also, in almost all designs of spoons,the handle portion generally tapers from a maximum width at the endopposite the bowl toward the bowl so that the narrowest portion isadjacent the bowl. To give sufficient strength to the handle,particularl in its narrowest portion, a certain thickness of metal isdesirable, depending upon what metal is used and the particular relativedimensions of the various parts of the spoon. Such thickness, however.is substantially greater than is necessary in the bowl portion of thespoon, and in fact an equal thickness of metal in the '0 W1 portion ofthe spoon would be totally undesirable since it would make the bowlportion too heavy and the spoon would become what is termed bowl heavy.

In the manufacture of inexpensive spoons, as those sold for kitchen use,the spoons are made from a strip of sheet metal of uniform thickness,and punching and drawing or bending operations are employed to arrive atthe ultimate form of the spoon. However, the difference in thicknessbetween the bowl portion of the spoon blank and the handle portion hasrequired the introduction, into the method of manufacturing such spoon,of the step of reducing the thickness of the metal, from the uniformthickness of the strip, in that portion ultimately forming the bowl ofthe spoon. It is, of course, desirable from a manufacturing standpointto maintain the metal in its strip form as far as possible through thevarious steps in the manufacturing operations. The handling ofindividual parts involves much more time, with a consequent increase incost, than where the parts are maintained in a continuous strip which iseasily handled. Heretofore, the reduction in thickness of the metal tobe used ultimately in forming the bowl has necessitated separation ofthe blanks from the strip form into individual blanks at an early stagein the manufacture so that such blanks have to be individually handledthroughout all subsequent operations.

The method embodying the features of the invention contemplatesmaintenance of the blanks in the strip form through a later stage in themanufacturing operation than has heretofore been possible. In previousmethods, the separation into individual blanks has occurred prior to thestep of reducing the thickness of the metal in the bowl portion. By thepresent method, the blanks are maintained in strip form through thethickness reducin operation, and are not separated into individualblanks until just prior to the step of dishing the bowl portion andbending the handle to give it its desired curvature. The present methodis particularly applicable to spoons made of stainless steel where theraw material employed in making such articles is almost invariably insheet or strip form of uniform thickness.

To more specifically describe mv improved method of manufacturingspoons, Fig. 1 of the drawing shows a strip of metal having a thicknessequal to that desired for the handle portions of the spoons. Suchthickness is uniform throughout th width of the strip, as clearlyillustrated in Fig. 2. The width or" the strip is substantially equal tothe total length. of one spoon plus the length of metal necessary toform a bowl portion. In addition. a slight amount of metal is allowed oneach sideof the strip to provide accurate trimming at the ends of thebowl portions which are closely adjacent the side edges of the strip, asis apparent in Fig. 3 of the drawings. By utilizing a strip of thiswidth, blanks may be punched from the strip with a minimum of scrap, aswill hereinafter be apparent.

The initial step in the present method of manufacturing comprisestransversely slitting, as at H], the intermediate portion of the stripindicated at il. The marginal portions of the strip indicated at [2 areleft unslitted, as is clearly apparent in Figs. 1 and 2. The slits lil,while extending generally transversely of the strip, are curved andtapered to follow generally the outline of the handle portion of thespoon to be formed. At the ends of the slits 10, holes l3 are punched soas to prevent concentration of stresses at the ends of the slits whichmight result in splitting of the metal during subsequent operations. Theholes |3 may, of course, be punched in the strip prior to forming theslits Ill. However, both of these operations are obviously performedwhile the metal is in the strip form.

The next step in the present method involves reduction in the thicknessof the metal to be used to form the bowl portions. As is obvious byinspection of Fig. 3, such bowl portions are punched from the marginalportions ['2 of the strip. The marginal portions, therefore, are to bereduced in thickness. Since it is desired to maintain the metal in itsstrip form as far as possible, the reduction in thickness of themarginal portions 92 is accomplished by roll ing the striplongitudinally by rolls which engage only the marginal portions [2 anddo not touch the intermediate portion H of the strip. Such rolling ofthe marginal portions 12 reduces the thickness and consequentlyincreases the length thereof.

The increase in length of the marginal portions, however, necessitates acorresponding increase in length in the intermediate portion 1 l of thestrip, if no buckling is to occur. The increase in length of theintermediate portion ii follows, as a result of the elongation of themarginal portions [2, by widening of the slits It, as indicated at 14.Since the metal in the intermediate portion 1! is not engaged by therollers, no reduction in thickness thereof occurs and the entireincrease in length is accomplished by such widening of the slits. Thewidening of the slits. as at M, leaves longitudinally spaced bars ofmetal 55 connected at their ends to the marginal portions I! ofdecreased thickness. In the preferred form of rolling, the reduction inthickness is preferably not of abrupt form but tapers gradually througha short distance, as indicated at H5 in Figs. 3 and l.

The strip of metal is now ready for punching the spoon blanks therefrom.However, it is to be noted that it is still in strip form and that onlya few operations remain to provide the finished form of spoon. Allhandling of the metal thus far in the process has been permitted in suchstrip form so that the costs of the operations thus far aresubstantially less than they would have been. had the metal beenseparated into individual blanks at an earlier stage.

In punching the blanks from the strip, I have indicated in Fig. 3, bythe broken lines 51, the location of the punching to form the blanks.Thus, the bowl portions are punched from the marginal portions i2 ofreduced thickness with the bowl portions of adjoining blanks taken fromthe opposite marginal portions. By this ar rangement, the metal formingthe handle portions of the blank may be punched from the transverse bars[5 lying side by side. The curvature of the outline of the blank wherethe handle portion blends into the bowl portion follows generally theend formation of the handle portion of the adjoining blank so that thereis what may be termed a nesting of the blanks, resulting in a minimum ofscrap. The blank as punched from the strip in the form illustrated inFigs. 3 and 4 is shown in Fig. 5, where the handle portion is indicatedat 20 and the bowl portion at 2|. fiat but the bowl portion 2| isreduced in thickness relative to the handle portion 20 to the desiredextent so that a spoon of proper balance may be formed therefrom. Theblank illustrated in Fig. 5 is thereafter completely formed into a spoonby dishing the bowl portion 2| and bending the handle portion 26 to theextent desired.

With the foregoing method, it will be noted that the metal is maintainedin the strip form through all operations except the last two comprisingthe punching of the blank and the final shaping thereof. This permitseasy handling of the material and consequently reduces the cost ofmanufacture.

I claim:

The method of manufacturing spoons or the like from a strip of metalhaving a thickness equal to the thickness of the handle of the spoon anda width slightly greater than the length of a spoon plus the length of abowl, which comprises slitting and punching the strip centrally toprovide a plurality of transverse slits with enlarged holes punched atthe opposite ends thereof for preventing splitting of the metal duringsubsequent operations, said holes being spaced from both edges of thestrip a distance slightly greater than the length of the bowl to provideunslitted marginal portions on the strip and said slits being spacedlongitudinally of the strip a distance slightly greater than the widthof the handle, rolling the strip longitudinally along both marginalportions to reduce the thickness and increase the length thereof and towiden the slits without changing the cross-sectional form of the metalbetween the slits, and by said longitudinal rolling simultaneouslytapering the thickness of said strip transversely thereof from saidholes inwardly a substantial distance beyond the holes whereby therolled marginal portions of the strip are gradually tapered to the fullthi kness of the slitted central portion of the strip and punchingtransversely extending spoon blanks from the strip after such rollingwith the bowl portions of the blanks punched from said marginal portionsand the handle portions of the blanks punched from the metal between theslits.

JEROME N. GEHRED.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 114,823 Austria Nov. 11, 1929516,874 Germany Jan. 28, 1931 Such blank, of course, is

